Greetings, Edenites! Despite being immersed in the final edits of Planet of Eden, I found a little time to work on the book cover design again. If you remember, my first mock-up included a stylized female face—almost like a watercolor portrait—against a semitransparent space background. I liked the concept, but really wanted to use a photo of the lovely Leslie Craven from our photo shoot back in January. So, I reached out to Amy at Pretty Sleepy Art, who created…
As I continue to bring my forthcoming novel, Planet of Eden, to life, I’m experimenting with various forms of art that will play an important role in enhancing and marketing the book. One of the latest creations comes from my friend Ron Warne, who’s a famous cartoonist. Ron and I have worked together on a few other projects, so I knew his cartooning style and appreciated his fun approach to creating characters. At first, Ron was hesitant to apply his…
Okay. So, by all accounts, it seems the world has lost its collective mind. I don’t have to give you a list of examples; you have a list of your own. Despite all the madness, though, I want to encourage my fellow creatives to dig deep; creativity is still there. Hey, I know what it’s like to be a moody artist—meaning you feel like you have to be in “the right mood” to create. I’ve had to fight that for…
As a writer, there’s probably nothing more difficult than editing your story. If you’ve done good research and planning and you get into a creative flow, writing is the easy part. It’s what comes afterward—editing—that can often push your patience to its limits and leave you doubting pretty much everything about your book. Editing can make or break your story. It’s an exercise that separates the successful from the quitters. As you know from following my blog, I’m currently doing…
Do you believe words are important? As a communicator and writer, I’ve always had respect for proper language, good vocabulary, and using the right words. When you get lazy with your words, you risk miscommunication, failing to deliver your message, and also appearing unintelligent. Just think back to the last argument you had with someone. Could it have been avoided if one or both of you would have chosen your words more carefully? Probably. Words really do matter. I like…
First of all, welcome to the new website! As you will read below, launching this new site coincides with new directions for me as an author. My web master, editor, best friend and wife, Ann Marie Whicker, deserves the credit for building this website and putting up with my fastidiousness. I created the graphics, but she had the hard part of designing everything else and editing code. I am ecstatic about the new look! I am also pleased to announce…
Aside from being a writer and photographer, I am also a graphic designer who loves to create his own marketing pieces. One of the goals of my January photo shoot with the lovely Leslie Craven and body painting artist and film maker Juan Pantoja was to get some shots that I could use for a Planet of Eden book cover. During the weeks since the shoot, I have been working with the chroma key (green screen) shots and placing Leslie…
Last weekend, I was able to get some photos of a real alien! It’s not what you think, though; these photos were for the pre-marketing of my book Planet of Eden. Working with Leslie Craven, a lovely model here in Central Florida, and body painting artist and film maker Juan Pantoja, the goal of this photo shoot was to test how I could bring one of the book’s lead characters, Eah, to life. In the book, the alien-human Eah and…
In my quest to publish Planet of Eden, I’ve read a lot of advice about how to “write stories that get published.” Evidently, agents and publishers of speculative fiction are looking for certain “kinds” of science fiction stories to publish. The business and marketing side of my brain understands, but my creative side asks if this is truly speculative fiction, or speculative formula. I enjoy going to bookstores just to browse. When I can, I like to go through all…
